


Raindrops

by ahbonjour



Category: Portal (Video Game)
Genre: F/M, after the end
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-08-11
Updated: 2013-08-11
Packaged: 2017-12-23 03:13:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,177
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/921335
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ahbonjour/pseuds/ahbonjour
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“A rock fell out of the sky last night, and it’s talking!” Chell raised an eyebrow. “No, it’s true! It fell out of the sky last night, so I went to go see it, and it talked to me! I couldn’t understand it, so I go told mom, but she didn’t believe me, so I was coming to see you, and you have to see it! You have to!”</p>
            </blockquote>





	Raindrops

The companion cube had been turned into an end table.

It was all she had left. Well, it and the portal gun. Somehow GLaDOS hadn’t noticed she was still wearing it when she got kicked out (or left, or…it’s hard to say anymore). The gun was wrapped in her old jumpsuit, tucked safely beside the cube, next to the long fall boots she hoped to never wear again. Her miniature shrine to the place that stole her for 300 years.

The day she’d left the facility was simultaneously the best and worst day of her life. The best because she’d discovered after collapsing at the side of the wheat field that humanity had found a way to survive. She’d been asleep when the world had, apparently, ended. But humanity had pulled itself together, somewhat. They weren’t as advanced as Aperture, but they had homes, businesses, computer’s they’d been trying to repair for decades. A single radio station. And now, Chell.

“Another cloudy day,” the disc jockey, Ella Fitzgerald (not her real name, but for whatever reason she didn’t want to be found). She had a sweet and smoky voice, a voice that made you feel safe and wanted. “Maybe you want rain, or not, depending on if you an adult or a kid. Either way, you probably gonna get some a little later. Let’s listen to somethin’ to help you get ready.”

_Listen to the rain on the roof go_

_Pit-pitty-pat_

_Pit-pitty-pat_

_Pitty_

Chell began humming along and shuffling her feet softly as she tied her hair back in a bandanna and slipped her shoes on. Not too much had changed about her since she’d left Aperture; she’d obviously left the jumpsuit and tank top behind, swapping them for easy shirts and blouses and waders. Her life no longer revolved around portals; now it revolved around trying to fix the computer and helping Blackspring gather food and maintain the water filter. Blackspring consisted of her, a scoop of other single people, and six families. Chell lived on the top floor of one of the three two-story homes for people alone. They were made of siding and tin (in fact, the whole town was), with minimal outside décor, but they kept the rain out and the heat in, so no one complained.

She pattered down the stairs, grateful that Jones was out so she didn’t have to fake small talk with the awkward little man, and stepped out into the sunshine. The sun, the real sun, still never failed to make her smile. She’d worked so hard for that sun.

A small voice suddenly interrupted her thoughts. “Miss Chell! Miss Chell!” Without looking, Chell held out her arm, anticipating the small body attached to the voice to come into it to walk her to the garage, but instead Minnie Miller grabbed her hand and began yanking her in the direction of the cornfield.

When Chell was brought in the Millers (Grace, Eddie, and Minnie) cared for her. She was emaciated, dirty, battered, bruised, and bloody, not to mention mute; but Grace and Eddie had asked nothing of her but to stay, to help them make Blackspring into an actual town and not just a few houses. How could she say no?

That was two years ago. The town had grown, had even prospered. After Clarence had fixed up the water filter so they didn’t have to travel so far downstream, after Alice had showed up with her pockets full of seeds, after the Oliversons had come with their caravan, deciding to settle down but convincing the traders to come back once a month, Blackspring had even started to thrive. In two years it had gone from three single people and two families to an actual settlement, with a general store, a bar/eatery, a doctor, and even a little bit of electricity.

“Miss Chell, come on! You’re gonna miss it!”

“Miss it?” Chell asked. She’d began talking, small sentences, to people she trusted. Minnie was one of them. She was the one who’d coerced Chell’s name out of her in the first place.

Minnie spun around and looked up at her, her spring green eyes wide and her gap-teeth grinning before she said, “A rock fell out of the sky last night, and it’s _talking_!” Chell raised an eyebrow. “No, it’s true! It fell out of the sky last night, so I went to go see it, and it talked to me! I couldn’t understand it, so I go told mom, but she didn’t believe me, so I was coming to see you, and you have to see it! You have to!” She turned in the direction of the cornfield and began yanking Chell behind her. “ _Come! On!_ ”

“You poachin’ my employee, Li’l Bit?” said a deep voice behind them. They stopped and turned, Minnie smiling sheepishly at big Thomas, the machine shop owner (and technically the owner of the non-working computer). He was incredibly handsome and muscular, if a little knuckleheaded, and the dark brown color of rich soil. Everyone liked Thomas. He walked over and scooped Minnie up. “She’s gonna work on the computer today.”

“She can later! We’re gonna go look at a rock!”

“What?”

“A rock!” Thomas laughed. “Thomas, it talks!”

“A talkin’ rock, eh? This I must see,” he said, ruffling Minnie’s hair. She pointed in the direction of the cornfield and Chell settled her hand into the crook of Thomas’s arm that wasn't holding Minnie, the three of them setting off in search of the talking rock.

After about a half hour of walking, during which Minnie squirmed down and began racing among the corn and Chell transferred her hand into Thomas’s own, Minnie abruptly stopped. “There,” she whispered, pointing forward. “It’s over there.”

“You scared, Li’l Bit?” Thomas whispered back. Minnie didn’t answer. “That’s okay. Let’s all go together.” Minnie nodded and took his other hand, and the three of them took a deep breath and stepped into the clearing.

Sure enough, the thing that fell from the sky was there, and it was talking, but it sure wasn’t a rock. “Hullo? Can anyone hear me? I, uh, my body’s a little banged up and I can’t really see anything, so um… _can anyone hear me?!_ ”

“What the hell is that?” Thomas asked in awe, crouching down by the crevasse this thing had made upon impact with the earth, a good yard down.

“Oh, God, thank God, can you help me? I, ah, seem to be, uh, in a bit of a situation.”

“What are you, little rock?”

“Oh, no, no, I’m, uh, I’m not a rock, I’m—”

“He’s a core.” Thomas turned to look at Chell and his eyebrows drew together as he realized she had gone ashen and was shaking, her eyes widened in rage. “He’s—he’s—”

“Chell?” Minnie asked nervously, tugging on Chell’s hand. “Chell? Are you okay?”

“Chell?” the crevasse asked. “Why does that sound familiar? It—oh, oh no—”

Chell looked down into the crevasse, making certain he could hear her, her fists clenched. “Apple.”

**Author's Note:**

> I write really short chapters I'm sorry.
> 
> The song on the radio is "The Rain on the Roof" from Follies.


End file.
